The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, has observed that security challenge is a major impediment to the exploration of oil in the Chad Basin.
The General Manager, Frontier Exploration Services of NNPC, Dr Mazadu Bako, who made the observation at the 50th anniversary celebration of department of Geology, Ahmadu Bello University, ABU Zaria said that plans were at the advance stage to ensure crude oil extraction in the northern part of the country.
While appraising the security challenges in the northern part of the country, he added, “If the security situation was not the way it is by today, our locations for drilling would have been ongoing in construction.”
Represented by the Deputy Manager Benue Trough Operations of NNPC, Alex Tarka, he said the department of Geology, ABU had bred geo-scientists who have contributed immensely to the Nigeria extraction industry.
According to him, “NNPC off stream as the arm that carries out petroleum exploration activities is a beneficiary of the contribution of the department of geology of this institution, as many of its graduates have worked and are still working in the MPDC, the E and P arm of the NNPC located in Benin City, Intergrated data services, the seismic arm of NNPC, among other places.
“Let us take a quick look at NNPC exploration effort in some inland basins in Nigeria, starting with the Chad basin, between 1976 and 1996, a total of 33 thousand kilometers of 2D seismic data were acquired, processed and interpreted, which led to the drilling of 3wells in the chad basin.
“I have the honor to let my department know that as of 1992, I was one of the geologists in one of the wells, only two out of the 21 wells that is, Uwadi and Kinasa recorded non commercial gas while the other 21 where driven from 2008 to 2017.
“Just last year, a total of 1,962.20 square kilometers of 3D seismic data were acquired, processed and interpreted and prospects have been identified while plans to commence drilling of the matured prospects have commenced.”
In his remarks, the Vice Chancellor of ABU, Professor Ibrahim Garba, called for more investment in the mining sector.
According to him, Nigeria was blessed with abundant natural resources that should be translated to development.
He explained that without commiserate investment and commitment on the part of government, there will be no utilization.
Garba added, “Resources will always be there in the ground, for geologists to exhume but the other requirement that the country must have in other to promote the development of the resources must be there. We need government’s commitment and investment.
“The resources that we benefit today have been product of very hard work over a long period of time of tremendous investment. So if we want to continue to benefit from the abundant mineral resource we have, we must work hard, we must invest and then develop the resources for the future.”
The vice chancellor who boasted that the university, especially the Geology department has been in the forefront of pioneering development of the country through mineral resources research, said, “Geology department, ABU has produced a lot of intellectual works and very high caliber of geologist across the country, who are serving the country in various fields such as oil industry, minerals and natural resource extraction, environment and agricultural sector.”
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